


the she-wolf of winterfell

by Winter_Heart



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 15:50:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6382822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_Heart/pseuds/Winter_Heart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arya is in the Riverlands, gathering her pack, and has a nice (albeit short) conversation with her uncle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the she-wolf of winterfell

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping to make this chapter part of a larger series (and finally write out a story that's been in my head for a while now). Nothing much happens in this story, it's more of a way to organize my ideas and force myself to begin writing. I hope to eventually write out some of the scenes I mention in passing here. Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated. I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

“You remind me so much of your mother” her uncle said. Brynden Tully was not truly her uncle, he was her mother’s uncle. 

His words startled her. She did not look like her mother. Her mother was beautiful. When she closed her eyes, she could still see her mother’s auburn hair and blue Tully eyes.

Her surprise must have shown in her face. Her uncle smiled at her and sat next to her.

“You do not have her look, child. But, your mother was also very strong and fierce.”

She was again taken aback by her uncle’s statement. Arya did not feel strong. She was just tired of all of this. This was not her place. She had meant to go north, to Winterfell, to her brothers. 

Her brothers were alive. She had seen it in a dream. Bran was somewhere far North, far beyond the Wall. Rickon was in some remote place too. She did not know where she could find them, but all that mattered was that they were alive. She was suppose to go North. But she never could get to the places where she wanted to go. 

Jon needs me too. She could not remember her dreams about Jon, but in her heart she knew that she had to go to him, to the Wall. Jon will help me. Jon would understand, and muss her hair, and they would “I’ve missed you” at the very same time, like they used to do at Winterfell.

Winterfell. In her dreams she had spoken to Bran. She was suppose to go to Winterfell, and reclaim it for the Starks. How exactly she was suppose to do that, she did not know. Bran had said he would help her though, and Bran would never lie to her. Once she restored Winterfell, her pack would find their way back together. “It is because they think they have nowhere else to go that they remain hidden” Bran had said. “You need to make Winterfell safe for everyone to return.” 

I made a vow to restore Winterfell. But she was not much closer to Winterfell than she had been two fortnights ago. She might have found her way North alone. 

But her wolf had called to her. She was reunited with Nymeria and now Arya had her own pack of wolves. 

She had seen the Riverlands though her wolf’s eyes, and now she saw the Riverlands through her own eyes. The devastation of the war was everywhere. People were starving, death was everywhere, and the remnants of Robb’s army still wandered the countryside. The Northern men, who had followed her brother south, were scattered through the Riverlands. They are my pack too. 

Without Nymeria, the smaller wolves would have died. But Nymeria united them, made them fierce, made them strong. The wolves were alive because of Nymeria, and Arya would not leave the Northern men. They are my pack too. They kept coming to her now. She promised to take them home, and they had pledged their lives and swords to her. 

She could not leave them, even if it meant that making her way North would be that much harder. Her pack was growing larger everyday. She had no idea how she would take them all North, or how she would feed them, or protect them. Her uncle said that her people had grown too large, and would no doubt, draw unwanted attention.

She had not known her uncle. But Nymeria knew him and had watched over him since he escaped from Riverrun. She had met her uncle when her pack was only the half dozen Cerwyn and Tallhart men she had met upon arriving at the Riverlands. They had grown to trust each other.

“I’m so tired and weary,” she confessed to her uncle in a low voice. “I just want to go home.” The words came out of her mouth and she almost flinched, waiting for the slap to come. But there was no slap. Only her uncle’s kind face.

“Cat did not want war either. She wanted to go back to Winterfell, to your brothers. After the fall of Winterfell, all Cat could think of was getting her daughters back. 

“Cat guided your brother Robb through the war. She made herself strong, for Robb. Your mother always did her duty, and she found strength in it.

“There was many a time when your mother felt tired too. But she hid it well, even from me, who knew her all her life. There is no shame in being afraid or tired, child, so long as we keep moving forward, and we do our duty by our family. 

“You are strong too. Get some sleep now. We might have to march tomorrow.”

Arya simply nodded and dismissed her uncle. It always made her feel good to speak of her mother. She closed her eyes, with the hope she would hear Bran in her dreams.


End file.
